Password hidden characters

ABSTRACT

Password Hidden Characters is a security method which creates characters which are invisible. It is a method comprising steps used to insert time intervals between specific password characters, or to replace characters which have been withdrawn from the password or message, with the objective being to disguise a true password or message meant to be secret, and by so doing to create an invisible code. The invisible code allows messages which are supposed to be secret to remain that way. This protection evolves from the withdrawal of any six characters out of a total of 26 available, and the number of permutations created when this is done.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Because of the ever increasing importance of security, the ability ofhackers to get access to a password could have devastating results. Somehackers have set up covert video recording devices to observe creditcard usage at receptacles, to obtain the passwords.

To combat identity theft, it is necessary to have more than conventionalpasswords, pin numbers or fingerprints. You need a covert procedurewhich hackers cannot pick up even from a hidden video. You also need amethod to send messages that cannot be intercepted and hacked.

Even fingerprints can be obtained over a period of time by skilledsleuths.

Facilities access depends on a card being presented, and the mostadvanced passwords incorporate fingerprints, numbers of prints, andcombinations. If skilled sleuths have the fingerprints, and a covertvideo shows prints used and in what combination, then access can becompromised. A method has to be developed that accomplishes threethings:

-   -   1. It will not be detected as in use from even a covert video of        a user at a receptacle.    -   2. It must prevent access even if password, prints, pin numbers        and combinations of prints have been compromised.    -   3. It must make it possible to disguise secret messages with        five barriers to hacker entry. The barriers are: invisibility,        the time unit used to differentiate pauses, time units per        character, ability to change the code, and ability to change the        time unit.

Brief Summary of the Invention

I propose a pause program, inserting pause times between certaincharacters.

The time pause program is particularly useful for providing additionalsecurity to passwords. It is invisible and known only by the user. Thefollowing presentation will consider the time pause as a character, as asimple approach for improving passwords significantly.

Messages which must be absolutely secret can be disguised with theinvisible code described herein.

Users can lose an access card, have their conventional passwordcompromised, or have it stolen or hacked. This problem is unlikely tooccur with the pause character method because it is well hidden, notobservable even when used, and known only by the authorized user.

In order for hackers to breach Password Hidden Characters, they mustknow four things:

-   -   1. They must be aware of the use of time pauses as character        inputs.    -   2. They must know the time units between inputs.    -   3. They must know the time unit used to measure time units per        pause. You can vary the time unit.    -   4. They must know the code which tells time units per invisible        character.

Two patents exist using time delays in passwords or messages.

Smith patent 2005/0149762 discloses association of a time delay betweeneach character of a password. This would make sending messages extremelydifficult and time consuming, not to mention the time component requiredto decode a message using his approach. His claims end with the phrase“of the password”, and were not designed to disguise the content of amessage. Smith has a time delay between each character in a password,whereas Password Hidden Characters only has chosen time intervals toreplace the few characters that have been chosen to be withdrawn fromthe message, and none between characters. Password Hidden Charactersdoes not have time intervals put between each character of a password,only a plurality.

Brown patent 2017/0163625 records the exact times when all passwordcharacters are entered, and uses relative times for creating amulti-dimensional password. He measures existent times from a user, anddoes not insert variable time intervals. Relative time analysis isexcellent for differentiating password entry patterns, but is not usefulwith regard to disguising the content of a message. Relative times aresignificantly different from time intervals placed to replace withdrawncharacters, because one approach measures existent variables that arebetween all characters, and Password Hidden Characters places chosentime intervals in only a few message locations, only to replacewithdrawn characters, and none between characters. Brown is concernedwith the relative times between all characters in a password, butPassword Hidden Characters only puts time intervals between a pluralityof password characters, not all of them.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

There has been a failure in the access password system for securityagainst unauthorized users. Many facilities are presently at risk,because of password design failures.

It is the object of the Password Hidden Characters system, called PHCfor brevity, to provide an invisible security barrier, using noadditional numbers, letters, symbols, or fingerprints. The PHC cannot beobserved by a hidden video, and cannot be deciphered by hackers.

If you want to have a secret password, you can use pauses betweenpassword characters to disguise several characters. For example, to hidethe letter “a” you could have a three second pause, and to hide theletter “y”, a six second pause. With several hidden characters in yourpassword, your security is greatly enhanced.

Now let us cover the sending of secret messages, using the same generalapproach just shown. For example, to hide the meaning of a veryconfidential message, one could choose to remove certain letters, like:a, e, i, o, u, and y. When the letters are removed from the message,they are replaced by measured and specific pauses. With letter removal,the meaning of the important message becomes unintelligible.

The code works by inserting measured pauses between certain letters,determining how many time units are to be in each pause, and lettingeach letter to be removed be represented by a specific range of timeunits. Time units could be seconds, shorter time units of seconds, orlonger units of time then seconds. An assignment of time units couldlook like this:

Character removed A E I O U Y Time units assigned 1-2 2-4 4-6 6-8 8-1010+

When composing a coded message, occasionally adjacent hidden characterswill occur. For clarity, one could place a comma or slash to indicateeach adjacent character. Here is a sample message to be disguised, andreduced to gibberish:

“Looking at a sequenced bay flank attack.”

The sender prepares this message for transmission by setting it up asfollows:

L*,*K*NG/*T/*/S*Q*,*N C*D/B*,*/FL*NK/*TT*CK. 82 (* represent pauses)

When the sender has removed certain characters, he sends the messageusing the pauses as described above. (sender does not send asterisks)The recipient should be covertly provided with the assignment of timeunits/character, or perhaps provided with a secret calendar schedule ofplanned codes. The number 82 could be the secret frequency used to senda deciphering table.

It follows that, for an unauthorized person to break the code, they musthave, or be aware of:

1. An ability to measure the time between characters.

2. The list of letters that have been chosen to disappear. (Can bechanged each transmission)

3. The time units assigned/character. (Can be changed with eachtransmission)

4. The length of the chosen time unit. (Can be changed with eachtransmission)

5. The fact that some items are invisible.

Advantages of the Invention

1. The various types of pauses eliminate any possibility of covertobservers being able to discern the password.

2. Hackers who have been successful in obtaining symbols, letters,numbers or fingerprints will have to break into the operating system topick up the times between character inputs, and this is an additionalformidable task.

3. Secret message senders can change which letters are invisible, andalso vary the time unit used.

4. Hackers have been in the business of obtaining data files to stealpasswords, but now they will have to somehow obtain both the intervaltimes, and the Time unit/character.

5. Every organization or department can choose a different Time unit andcoding table.

6. The method is simple to use, and needs no encryption.

7. Some unauthorized users that intercept a message will assume thatwhat they have is, in itself, a code. But it is simply a message withparts of it missing.

I claim:
 1. A method for creating a password or message with hiddencharacters comprising: determining a plurality of characters to beremoved from a password or message; assigning a different range of timeintervals to each of the characters to be removed; removing theplurality of characters from the message or the password; replacing eachremoved character with the associated time interval, wherein eachassociated time interval is inserted as a character input in place ofthe associated removed character; and creating the password or themessage by inserting the associated time intervals between thenon-removed password characters to create an invisible code.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: using time units that can be usedto differentiate time intervals (or special characters) inserted inchosen locations, wherein the time unit is variable for each differentpassword or message.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: usingdifferent ranges of time units to represent the different charactersthat have been chosen to be removed from the message or password.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, further comprising: selecting, by a sender, a list ofcharacters that are to be removed from the message or password.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, further comprising: substituting, by the sender, atime interval range for each removed character on the list; using thetime unit to measure the correct time intervals; and informing therecipient of the message or password of the list of characters to beremoved, the time interval substitutes, and the time unit being used onthe date of transmission.